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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

It's that time of the month again with a 5 Star Makeover hosted by Natasha @ 5 Star Foodie and Lazaro @ Lazaro Cooks. This month's theme is a gourmet picnic food theme to welcome Memorial day weekend. I cooked the dish alongside the so called Cooking Group which is a sidebar of this blog. I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with.

This pulled pork is so easy especially if you have a slow cooker. It's tender - melt in your mouth - and so juicy! This is not the first time I made this. I changed spices every time. This time I added Piment d' Espelette I got in Paris during my Europe trip last year. This pepper was recommended by Lazaro. It works well with this slow roasted pork. Red wine caramelized onion is a nice touch for a sandwich. Leftovers from this onion can be used in so many ways! I used in a sandwich, salad, side dish, and even a taco.

this is made from pork loin roast

it's pretty tender but doesn't have "fat" that I need

Since my husband doesn't like dark meat, I tried with pork loin roast. It worked fine with a lean taste. Surprisingly, it was juicier than I thought. We had this for a sandwich and the next day I mixed with taco sauce for tacos. Keith absolutely loved it!

the leftover I mixed it with taco sauce to make tacos

It can't be perfect pulled pork if I haven't used the meat I like which is pork flank or shoulder. Pork flank doesn't come from the rear end of the hog. It is cut from the shoulder. It contains a lot of fat and connective tissue. It creates moist, succulent meat after many hours of "low and slow" cooking. That's what I want it to be.

that's the meat I want

A marbling line makes it easy to "pull" with a fork. I also made this when I catered for NAAAP-Seattle at a Microsoft building. It's easy to prepare and a crowd pleaser.

The next main component is red wine caramelized onions. The way of cooking it is adapted from Momofuku cookbook by David Chang. You cook onions by piling them up on one another - let the weight work itself out. Pile it up and around occasionally to prevent burning. For this recipe, just salt, pepper, herbs, and red wine; you're done. It will take a bit of time to create a caramelization but it's worth it.

Combine everything together except pork. Rub pork with the seasoning mixture on both sides. Put in a slow cooker and put on low for 9 hrs or so. When it's done, remove the pork and preserve the juice. Use forks to pull meat. Pour juice back in the pork.

Great timing on this post Tanantha- this is just perfect for the holiday weekend. I love the pile of caramelized onions and with the pulled pork, you've really put together one flavorful sandwich;-)What time does the picnic start? I'll bring my own plate and napkin;-)

This is an awesome pulled pork sandwich - I love the addition of Piment d' Espelette and the pulled pork looks like it's just perfectly succulent. The red wine caramelized onions are a wonderful addition, excellent!

My goodness...I want to come to a picnic with you. This sandwich looks HEAVENLY. Thanks for sharing with me tonight. I hope you have a beautiful day tomorrow. The weekend is almost here! Hugs from Austin.

Ohmigoodness! That's a super delicious looking sandwich. I love pulled pork...you can just toss it in the crock pot when you head out to work in the morning and when you come home you've got a glorious meal just waiting for you :) Well done!

I'm really picky about my meats, and I don't eat pork very often, which is why you see a lot of seafood on my blog, but I know I'd definitely love this pulled pork sandwich. I'm a fan of the leaner meat so the more melting of fat, the tastier for me. Haha. Absolutely love the red wine caramelized onions. What a wonderful addition to add texture and burst of flavour. Having the leftovers in tacos was a great idea. Wonderful dish all around, Tanantha.

I just love my apron too! I also love caramelized onions on sandwiches. The only problem I'm running into right now is that I'm a bit of a bread snob so finding the right bread has been causing me a little more grief than usual - everyone is putting soy into their bread, I can't eat soy (allergies). yesterday I had to resort to make my own. It was worth it though to have my onion sandwich.

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